AstraZeneca shares tumble after drug fails trial

AstraZeneca's cancer drug Recentin failed in a head-to-head late-stage trial with Roche’s Avastin, hurting the Anglo-Swedish giant’s shares. AstraZeneca said the data showed the experimental drug had failed to meet its primary endpoint in the study.

AstraZeneca said the data showed the experimental drug had failed to meet its primary endpoint in the study.

But the company said it would await fresh data from a second late-stage trial before making any decisions on filing the drug for approval. Shares in AstraZeneca lost 1.5 per cent.

Alan Barge, AstraZeneca’s head of oncology, said: “While we recognised that challenging Avastin would be a high hurdle, it is still disappointing, despite evidence of clinical activity with Recentin, not to have met the primary endpoint in this study.”

Recentin, a pill, was developed to challenge injectable Avastin and is aimed at colorectal cancer patients. Both are targeted therapies designed to starve tumours by stopping them from building blood vessels.